We have been "on the hard" for 10 days. We have torn almost everything apart. The bow pulpit is off, along with all the lifelines and stanchions. The old traveler is off. The old engine is removed and gone to a new home.
We've worked hard every day except yesterday. Not much seems to be getting done. Yesterday, Barbara requested a break. She wanted to do something "fun". We borrowed a friend's vehicle and did a marathon 3 hours at a Super Walmart, shopping and losing each other. FYI, Barbara hates shopping, but compared to what we've been doing, it met the requirement of "fun".
Barbara has managed to comlete a couple of her special projects including expanding a bookshelf and building a wine glass storage. She has also cleaned the engine compartment and lazarettes and painted them, cleaned the deck where the new stanchions go and drilled any necessary holes, and been a great assistant with all the other projects including the engine install.
We've changed some plumbing and electrical to clean things up and get them out of the way.
I've been working on the new engine project since the beginning of December. It was ordered complete with custom built mounting brackets to compensate for the engine it was replacing and make it an easy repower and installation.
I assumed, apparently erroneously, that they would mimick the old brackets in all three dimensions. Well, they were approximately the same width as the old ones. No problem. They were a different length than the old ones, which, though inconvenient, would be a modestly easy fix. However, they are almost 2 inches lower than the old ones. Huge problem and headache.
The most workable solution is to cut away a significant portion of the molded engine mounting rails and add new beams in their place. A significant source of rectal discomfort.
Tonight I feel like I have minute slivers of fiberglass in every pore of my body.
I'll have to find appropriate lumber and shape it to fit. I'll have to beg, borrow or rent a vehicle to go do this.
To get to this point, Barbara and I have hoisted the engine up almost 10 feet on a manual chain hoist, guided it over the side of the boat to the cockpit, into the upper salon through the companionway, lowered it to the salon floor, shoved, maneuvered and cajoled it back under the cockpit sole, shifted it sideways onto the existing engine stringers only to find that it would not fit and had to reverse the whole process to take the engine out, begin modifications and eventually do the install all over again. All with a solid 1/2" width to spare.
Not a happy camper.
Reggie
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